Non-invasive preservation assessment of archaeological bone using neutron imaging

The project seeks to answer questions regarding the appropriate storage and display conditions for archaeological bone objects in English Heritage collections. A recent national audit of the English Heritage collection has indicated that archaeological bone is among the most damaged materials. Exposure to low relative humidity (RH) has caused the loss of mechanical properties and in some cases structural failure. To build a more cohesive understanding of bone, a multi-scale multi-analytical approach is being used to determine the integrity of bone including the physicochemical state of collagen and DNA . However, much of this work is destructive and may not be applicable to all archaeological collections. Therefore there is a need within the project to seek non-invasive methods regarding preservation assessment. Neutron imaging has indicated that it could provide such a methodology.